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In April, Merli Tamtik presented findings from research conducted with Creso Sá on European Union research policy at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the Biennial Conference of the European Community Studies Association – Canada (ECSA-C).

The American Educational Research Association (AERA) held its Annual Meeting in Vancouver, BC, April 13-17, 2012. This year’s conference theme “Non Satis Scire: To Know Is Not Enough” emphasizes the importance of active use of educational research for improving educational policies. Merli Tamtik presented a research paper “Policy Learning in the European Union’s Research Policy “, co-authored with Creso Sá that focuses on examining policy learning as a tool for policy change. The paper demonstrates that policy learning is a long-term process with immediate outcomes at the individual level and only secondary policy implications at the country or European policy-making level.

The European Community Studies Association – Canada (ECSA-C) had its Biennial Conference in Ottawa, ON, in April 26-28, 2012. The conference brought together scholars investigating EU related issues in public policy and beyond. Merli Tamtik was provided a graduate student travel grant to attend the conference and present her research paper co-authored with Creso Sá “Policy Learning and Enhancing EU’s Research Policies: Expectations and Implications” as part of a panel focusing on the Integration of Innovation and Human Capital in the New Knowledge Economies of Europe.

Creso Sá presented at an international conference sponsored by the Faculty of Education at York University in Toronto, Canada on March 15-17, 2012. The conference, Policy Formation in Post-Secondary Education: Issues and Prospects in Turbulent Times, hosted leading thinkers from around the world to discuss university policy formation in the context of recent global economic change.  Creso presented the paper Expertise and Evidence in Policy Making for University Research, based on a study by Creso, Merli Tamtik, and Andrew Kretz that explored the ways research funding agencies use evidence and expertise to develop policies and programs.

In late 2011, Amy Lemay was awarded a Mitacs Accelerate internship. From January to April 2012, Amy will be working with the Consortia Advancing Standards in Research Administration Information (CASRAI) to explore questions related to the ways in which policy and practice decisions are informed and how research can be linked to its uses. CASRAI will use the results of this research to improve its evolving catalogue of data elements for measuring the societal impact of research. for more information on this project, see the full project description in the Projects section.

On Tuesday, February 7, the Higher Education Group at OISE held a seminar focusing on the Government of Ontario’s commitment to support three new undergraduate campuses in the province. A number of questions will be addressed such as: Are these campuses needed? What types of campuses should be created? What are the implications for the Ontario system?

As Program Coordinator of the Higher Education Program, Creso chaired the final session of the afternoon entitled: Options, Challenges and Possibilities: Moving Forward.

Professor Creso Sá spoke at the State University of New York Conference on Critical Issues in Higher Education: Universities as Economic Drivers, held in Buffalo, NY, Sep 26-27. He presented in a panel on Cluster Strategies—Transforming Regional Economies through Higher Education.